Un-betad

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Word Prompt: Brief


Word Prompt: Brief

The weather finally cleared up enough to go back to school, but I found myself getting bored more so than before. Every night before bed I would talk to Edward for an hour or two. He would tell me about his day, and I'd ramble on a bit about school. Even though we were only two years apart in age, our places in life were polar opposite. I was just thankful that Edward seemed to be able to ignore that.

My dad didn't have any more comments about Edward, but my mom would ask about him every few days. She was never invasive, but she'd want to know how he was doing, when I planned on seeing him again, and if he was excited that his family was coming into town. There was a briefing coming up soon for pre-deployment, and I was going to be amazed if my mom didn't hunt him down. Secretly, I knew she was chomping at the bit to meet him, but I wasn't so sure if that would be a great idea.

Though our chats on the phone were nice, I was bouncing off the walls to see him again. He told me when one of his NCO realized he was walking so much, he offered to drive him in the mornings, so I wouldn't see him on my way to school anymore. As selfish as it was to think about, I was a little disappointed. However, all of that faded away when we made plans to go bowling on Saturday. It would be our first public appearance when most of the base wasn't huddling inside because of the snow, and, so far, no one had made any comments about Edward with me or vice versa.

The parking lot was pretty busy when I drove in, but I shrugged it off as I parked and made my way in. The smell of concession foods assaulting me as soon as the door opened.

Edward was standing by the front waiting on me, and when his face lit up the second he spotted me it was impossible not to smile back.

"I'm glad you made it," he said sweetly as he gave me a hug. Being close to Edward was like heaven, he was so warm and muscular.

"Like I'd be anywhere else," I teased back. He grabbed my hand and paid for our game and shoes.

"A few guys from my squad are here," he informed me with a head tilt. "I told them we'd probably keep to ourselves, but if you wanted to, we could play near them."

I bit my lip and thought about that for a few seconds. Obviously, they'd know who I was, but I also didn't want to let that dictate who I interacted with, so I just nodded.

"No, we can have a lane next to them," I replied back, as Edward requested lane twelve.

"Cullen, man," one guy hollered as we walked up. "You decided to be social."

Edward rolled his eyes and held his hand out as they shook like two boys in some weird club or something.

"Bella, this is Newton," Edward introduced me as I raised my hand with a small wave.

"Mike," the guy corrected. "Newton is at work, but to the lovely Bella, my name is Mike."

I laughed off his obvious attempt at flirting and shook my head lightly. I was then introduced to two other guys, Emmett McCartney and Jasper Whitlock.

"Newton takes some getting used to," Edward whispered into my ear, and I giggled.

"I can see that," I commented back. "It's a good thing I'm here with you, or I may fall victim to his horrible pick-up lines."

"I'd never let you fall for that," he stated gravely with a smirk. His eyes twinkled for a second, and it took all I had no to stand tall and kiss his cheek.

We started our game a few minutes later, and all seemed to be going well until Jasper pulled Edward away for a second. I saw Edward staring down at a cell phone and nodding as Jasper spoke, but I couldn't make out what was being said. It was obviously serious with the grave mask being worn by Edward, but I tried my best not to stare.

"Why the long face?" Emmett asked as he came up next to me. It was Edward's turn to bowl on my side, and apparently Jasper's too, so each game was at a standstill.

"Nothing, just waiting," I replied though the feeling of dread came over me as Edward rubbed his face before sliding his hand over his head. He was obviously upset, but I just didn't know why.

A few more minutes later, Edward and Jasper both came back, but Edward's behavior was off. There were no more joking comments between teams, and when I attempted to playfully grab his hand he shied away. I tried not to be offended, but it hurt. We weren't dating and had no official titles, but I thought we were a little more than how he was treating me.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked quietly right before he grabbed his ball.

"Yeah, why?" he attempted to lie, but I saw through it.

"No reason," I lied back.

When the game finished, I sat down to pull off my shoes. Edward still hadn't said anything about earlier, and I looked up to see him saying goodbye to his friends. Part of me wanted to quietly disappear, but I knew that would be immature. Even if Edward wasn't talking, it didn't mean I should go down to his level at the moment.

I stood up, grabbed my ball and put it back on the shelf. A million emotions started to rise up inside of me as I handed the guy back his shoes and waited to say goodbye to Edward. He was putting his boots back on, but I chose to stand closer to the door. This morning I was so happy to wake up, but now I just felt rejected.

"Hey," Edward said quietly when he walked up a minute later. "Do you mind driving somewhere so we can talk?"

The way Edward worded his question told me all I needed to know about the discussion we'd be having, so I nodded quietly and walked outside. When he tried to open my door for me I shrugged him off and climbed in.

"Where do you wanna go? Your room is out, so…" I let my voice trail as I held back the tears that were threatening to fall. I tried to make myself sound tough, but it was impossible when my voice cracked Edward looked pensive, and I knew where this was going.


Um, it's Edward & Bella, and Hi! My name is Kelly, and I like HEA's ;) See ya tomorrow, maybe later today, but tomorrow for sure!